The Seminarians at St Gregory’s House
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest”. (Matthew 9:37)
For many years, particularly under the spiritual leadership of the Most Rev Bishop Thomas Olmsted, the people of God in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix responded to Jesus’ request above, and prayed earnestly to God for increase in vocation to the priestly and religious lives. What we see today in our Diocese is God’s answer to the prayers of his people.
Our seminarians have increased and continues to increase in number, and by the special grace of God, the mother house of the Nazareth Seminary is located in our parish. So far, the seminarians who receive their formation in the Diocese begin their formative journey at the St Gregory’s House.
The 2025/2026 formation year for St Gregory’s House started on Thursday, August 21, 2025. As early as 10 am the seminarians had started to arrive and about 4 pm, they were complete. It was a great moment of grace as the Rector of the Seminary, Fr Paul Sullivan, the Vice Rector, Fr Kurt Perera, and one other formator, Fr Joseph Nguyen, joined the St Gregory House Father, Fr Chauncey Winkler and I to welcome the seminarians. Together, we prayed, dined and had recreation.
With our prayers for increase in priestly vocation answered, it seems that the job has just started. The formation of the seminarians to become priests after the heart of Jesus to serve in our Diocese, is the collective work of the entire people of God. As the parishioners of St Gregory’s, we have an added responsibility in this regard because “to whom more is given, much will be required” (Luke 12: 48).
The seminarians need our prayers, encouragement and support. Let us also pray for the priests entrusted with their immediate formation (formators). In a particular way, we pray for Fr Chauncey, who, with the movement of Fr Paul has been assigned the responsibility of the Director or the House Father at of the seminarians St Gregory’s; that God fill him with all the graces required to carry out this assignment.
St Gregory the Great, pray for our seminarians and for us.
-Fr Bona